Common questions, honestly answered.

No. The framing we recommend is overflow plus after-hours. Your receptionist focuses on in-person care, complex problems, and VIP customers. The AI Virtual Assistant covers everything they cannot: after-hours, peak-hour overflow, weekend coverage, and outbound follow-up. Most customers add us alongside their existing team, not in place of them.

Yes. Our primary customer data store is hosted in Singapore. Call recordings and transcripts are encrypted at rest and in transit. Default retention is 90 days, customer-configurable. We display a consent line on every inbound call (this call is handled by AI). We work with a Singapore PDPA specialist on clinic and healthcare deployments to keep documentation tight.

We use hard guardrails, not just prompt engineering. The AI cannot give medical advice, dosage information, or specific symptom diagnoses. Trigger phrases (medication, symptoms, pricing edge cases, complaints) escalate to a human via WhatsApp or callback. Every call gets reviewed in the first month of deployment, and the prompt is refined against any flagged failures.

We boost Singapore-specific vocabulary (kopitiam, makan, paiseh, void deck, the full list) into the speech-to-text layer, and we run accent-tolerant speech recognition optimised for Singapore audio. Mandarin code-switching mid-sentence is supported. We're realistic: heavy Singlish is harder than clean English. When the AI isn't sure, it asks politely for the caller to repeat, or escalates to a human. The recognition model improves continuously on Singapore-specific patterns over time.

Yes. We have native integrations with GoHighLevel, HubSpot, and Shopify. For custom CRMs or PMS systems, we push booking and call data via webhook, which most systems accept. Deep PMS integrations (Plato, Smartdent, OneClinic for clinics; Booksy, Fresha for salons; Mindbody, Glofox for fitness) are included on the Pro tier.

Two paths. Today: VirtualAssistant SG is delivered as part of a bundled Digital Marketing Solutions package from our parent agency, Best Marketing Agency Pte Ltd. BMA has been a PSG-approved vendor under the Digital Marketing Solutions category for several years. Singapore SMEs who bundle VirtualAssistant SG with BMA's qualifying package claim 50% PSG co-funding on the bundled spend, making the effective cost roughly half. This is the honest path right now: you're claiming PSG against BMA's existing approval, with VirtualAssistant SG included as a component of the solution. Separately, we are filing for direct PSG vendor approval under VirtualAssistant SG itself, and will update this answer when that lands so customers can claim PSG against VirtualAssistant SG standalone.

Most customers go live within 60 minutes of signup, using our self-serve onboarding wizard. The wizard pre-fills most fields from your website, asks for your hours, services, pricing, and FAQs, connects your calendar or PMS, and provisions a Singapore phone number. For deep PMS integrations (Plato, Smartdent), setup takes 1 to 3 business days while we configure the integration.

Every call is encrypted, transcribed, and stored for 90 days by default. You can change retention (7, 30, 90, or 365 days) in the dashboard. You can also disable recording entirely for sensitive calls (some clinics prefer this). Transcripts are searchable, exportable, and can be pushed to your CRM as call notes.

Yes. Pro tier includes a custom Singapore-cloned voice, which we generate from a 5 to 10 minute sample of the speaker you want. Many customers clone their existing receptionist's voice (with consent), so calls sound continuous with the rest of their brand. Starter and Growth tiers use a library of Singapore-trained voices (male, female, English-leaning, Mandarin-leaning).

The AI tries to clarify politely (sorry, I didn't catch that, can you say it again?). If the second attempt fails, it offers to transfer to a human or to schedule a callback. Every unresolved call generates a WhatsApp alert to your team with the transcript and audio. We track unresolved-call rate as a key health metric.

We can port your existing Singapore landline (+65 6xxx or +65 3xxx). Porting via our carrier plus IMDA paperwork typically takes 6 business days for simple cases, up to 18 for complex ones. Mobile numbers (+65 8xxx / 9xxx) cannot be ported to a cloud receptionist under IMDA rules. The clean workaround is call forwarding from your mobile to a new VirtualAssistant SG number that we assign you. Zero downtime, and your mobile stays personal.

ChatGPT and website chatbots handle text. Most Singapore SME enquiries arrive by phone or WhatsApp, not via a website chat widget. We handle voice (the channel SG customers actually use), WhatsApp (the channel SG businesses actually run on), and outbound follow-up (the work nobody has time to do). We're not competing with ChatGPT, we're solving a different problem.

Yes. Every new tenant gets 30 free minutes of Arva right after signup, no credit card required. You test her on real calls in your browser. When the trial minutes run out (or whenever you're convinced), pick a plan and we keep her running on a real Singapore phone number with monthly billing. Cancel any time from your billing portal.

Founded and operated by Jim Ng, founder of Best Marketing Agency Pte Ltd (UEN 201936773M). BMA is a Singapore digital marketing agency serving 25+ active SG SMEs across clinics, salons, F&B, retail and professional services, and a PSG-approved vendor for Digital Marketing Solutions in Singapore. VirtualAssistant SG runs on the same Singapore-first operating principles that have made BMA the agency-of-record for service businesses across the island. Self-funded, independent, and built for the long haul.